Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Conversement Creation

The Creation of Conversement

The Beginning

Starting off with the creation of Conversement, i faced the issue of learning what modes such as Dorian, lydian, Phrygian, Ionian, Myxolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. I had to learn these because Miles Davis' So What used a dorian mode and my Conversement was influenced from So What. From the video below you can see Charlie Round-Turner giving a detailed explanation of modes.


Originally without the help of Charlie Round-Turner my track was already in A dorian without me being aware, this was helpful because that meant subconsciously I had a rough idea of the Miles Davis influence that I was going for.

Furthermore the chords used in Conversement were A dorian and Bb dorian. This was similar to the way Miles Davis' So What is played as the first two sections are D dorian then it drops to E dorian for one section then back to A dorian for two. This pattern is the same throughout Conversement, the main factor that changes is the horns.

The melody unlike Miles Davis' So What is only played by the trumpets where as in Miles Davis' So What the bass line is an important factor. I did this so the song didn't have too much of a change and had a calm mellow feel. Personally the melody in the Bb section is my favourite as it feels as if it's going to rise then drops back to the A dorian.

The tempo of this song is extremely slow, i started it off with 80 beats per minute on the time signature 4/4. I did this so the song had no rushing feel to it and was as calming as it could be, taking its time with each time the melody hits.

The loudest instrument in the song is the horns. This is done so that when the chords played by the keyboard is finished you can hear the horns loud and clear. Following Miles Davis' So What I wanted the consequent phrase to be obvious to even those who know nothing about the theory behind music.

The instruments used in Conversement are; the trumpet, keyboard, bass guitar and drums. The trumpet is the forefront of the mix, the keyboard is just behind so that the antecedent phrase, the base follows as it plays similar chords to the keyboard.  

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